Honkai: You're telling me this difficulty is from Honkai Impact 3?!

"Okay, enough!" Shu said, raising his hands as Ethics turned to him with a perplexed expression. "We are not discussing the… hypothetical need for tentacle monsters in human… activities."

He pointed down the corridor. "Just tell me—is the reason you can't go to B3 because of that thing?!"

His glare clearly conveyed the message: One more word about tentacles, and you're next.

Since Ethics had said they only needed some remains, and the credentials were apparently part of this creature's biology, Shu assumed a fight was inevitable.

He wasn't worried about losing. The monster looked like a fleshy blob, barely able to squeeze itself out the door.

But he needed to know how many more there were. He didn't want to find one behind every closed door.

Ethics seemed to understand. "That is but one instance. Numerous such mutated organisms reside within Heliopolis, primarily concentrated on levels B9 and B10, with scattered individuals on other floors."

Good news: probably just this one here. Bad news: this wasn't even an elite. He might have to wade through a horde of these things later…

Just then, he felt a slimy tentacle wrap around his arm, like a long, wet tongue…

Shu froze, turning his head with a stiffness that rivaled Ethics's rusty joints.

A glistening pink tentacle, dripping with viscous fluid, had coiled around his arm, pulsing and writhing.

Ethics quietly stepped back, activating its video recording function.

Let's see what the Fire Moth First Squad captain is capable of.

But it was over in an instant. Less than three seconds later, Ethics silently deactivated the recording.

Two of those seconds had been spent wondering if the fight was actually over.

"Hah… hah…" Shu stood in the center of the corridor, head bowed, taking deep breaths, wiping the slime from his hand.

A gruesome, blood-red pattern, like the aftermath of a burst water balloon, radiated outwards from where he stood. It splattered across the walls and floor, leaving a clear circle, less than half a meter wide, around Shu's feet. His clothes were spotless.

Ethics touched the bloodstain. No residue, no fragments.

Its red eye flickered. It stared at Shu, speechless.

The mutated organism had been obliterated by an instantaneous, perfectly balanced burst of force emanating from Shu. The sheer power… enough to flatten a three-dimensional being into a two-dimensional stain.

He wasn't even on the same level as me. This was the power of the Fire Moth First Squad captain. A truly formidable organization…

"Mr. Shu, you appear to have… neglected to preserve a tissue sample…" Ethics said, adding several exclamation points to Fire Moth's file in its internal database. Perhaps I should have been more explicit. Or warned him before he… vaporized it.

Shu didn't respond immediately, still catching his breath.

"Mr. Shu?" Ethics prompted.

"Huh?" Shu looked up, his face pale.

High energy expenditure? A loss of control? Ethics added another note to Shu's file.

"Are you alright?" it asked, holding Pet closer.

Shu paused, then exhaled shakily. "I'm fine."

He glanced at the gruesome stain on the wall, a complex mix of emotions swirling within him. It wasn't exhaustion. The energy cost was negligible, barely comparable to blocking the Honkai Emperor's blast.

But in that instant of unleashing his power, he'd felt a sudden darkness, a strange emptiness, like his body had been momentarily transformed into vapor.

He finally registered Ethics's question.

"…My mistake." He looked down at the remaining slime on his arm. "Will this do?"

Ethics observed the slime, then nodded. "Saliva also contains biological information. It is suitable for authentication."

Shu winced. "Good. Let's go…"

He turned and walked back towards the elevator.

Ethics glanced back at the stain, its red eye flickering, then followed.

The return journey was much quieter. Inside the elevator, Shu pressed his slime-covered finger against the authentication panel, and Ethics pressed the button for B8.

As the elevator descended, Shu asked, "Ethics, do you know how many of these… mutated organisms there are in total within this facility?"

"Two hundred eighty-four standard instances, six specialized instances, and one… unique instance," Ethics replied without hesitation.

Shu stared at his hand, silent.

Pet wriggled in Ethics's arms, emitting a series of chirps.

After a long silence, Shu spoke softly.

"You said… humanity is defined by the interplay of mind and body… correct?"

A second later, Ethics gave a curious response. "Mr. Shu, would you classify a [cat] as human?"

"What do you mean?" Shu frowned, watching as Ethics continued to pet Pet.

"The interplay of mind and body is something all living beings experience. Injury and healing, hunger and satiety. Yet, only humans have ascended to become… [human]. Why is that?"